Erika June Christina Laing (whom you may know from Working Breed) strips her sound down from art to alt with Erika June and the Tunes, who recently released their first single.
Where Working Breed plays around with high concepts (see: speaking plants, singing saws, and cicada-centric storylines), Erika June and the Tunes take a more direct route to alt-rock, stuffing their debut single, “Other Girls,” full of sunny guitar riffs and catchy choruses. June’s first few verses express yearning for a match between two people, one “not like the other girls” and the one “not like the other boys,” who will bring out the best in each other. Standard relationship stuff, right? Not so fast; the song eventually transitions to a series of proclamations both defiant and self-deprecating. “Thought I could have it all/And I could still be free/But I refuse to fall/So there’s no one for me” is followed by “I’m just like the other ones/I’m always quick to draw my guns,” Laing’s lyrics bluntly pointing out people’s tendencies to idealize romance beyond the point of realism. It’s biting, hooky, and, most importantly, fun stuff.
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